The state of Washington will beef up security around the governor’s executive residence following a major breach of security on January 6, the same day a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.Read More
Northwest News
Across the Northwest, many Latinx families are facing similar barriers to getting vaccinated and other issues. Adding to the complexity is powerful misinformation on social media and by word-of-mouth, the recent health concerns over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and religious reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Read More
Few among us have tried our luck at competitive ski jumping, and there is no shame in that considering these skiers can reach speeds around 60 mph before they take flight. But there's something riveting about the daring sport even for casual onlookers. The Northwest was once a "hotbed" for Nordic jumping as detailed in a new book and a parallel museum exhibit.Read More
As Washington braces for a fourth wave of coronavirus and spread from a more infectious variant, Gov. Jay Inslee is urging residents to continue to follow health rules, and take the vaccine.Read More
Voters will get the chance to decide whether lawmakers in the part-time Idaho Legislature will be able to call special sessions, a power currently limited to governors.Read More
While the issue has pervaded communities for decades, the pandemic has brought renewed attention to the issue, as groups like Stop AAPI Hate have documented upwards of 3,800 incidents — more than a third of which occurred at businesses.Read More
The Washington House has approved a bill to institute a seven percent tax on capital gains over $250,000 from the sale of such things as stocks and bonds. The 52 to 46 vote followed an hours-long debate that spanned two days. Read More
On Wednesday, the Seattle Times reported former Republican gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp filed paperwork to run against incumbent Rep. Dan Newhouse. Along with his fellow Washington Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, Newhouse was among 10 House GOP members who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in January. Read More
Recycling works, but it's not magic. As America continues to lead the world in per capita waste production, it's becoming more and more clear that everybody – manufacturers and consumers — "over-believes" in recycling.Read More
Top Washington state legislators want to put a price on carbon to raise money for transportation projects. But with time running out, they can’t agree on the details.Read More
People would be prohibited from openly carrying guns and other weapons at the Capitol and surrounding grounds and at or near permitted public demonstrations across the state under a measure approved Tuesday by the Washington Legislature.Read More
The Washington Legislature on Tuesday approved a measure requiring police to intervene if they see a fellow officer using, or attempting to use, excessive force.Read More
In another sign of the rebound in travel, Amtrak and the state transportation departments of Oregon and Washington announced plans to restore a good chunk of the passenger train service that was curtailed due to low ridership in the pandemic.Read More
Nearly a year after the Washington Legislature voted to legalize sports betting, terms have been agreed for the first sportsbook to open. It will be inside one of the two Tulalip tribal casinos alongside Interstate 5 north of Everett.Read More
Seven cattle have been found mutilated over the last three months in Crook County and the sheriff’s office is actively investigating and hoping for a break in the case. This follows several recent cases in the past few years in rural Oregon. Read More
The Boise Police Department is investigating a rape allegation made against an Idaho lawmaker. A police spokeswoman confirmed Monday that the department has an open investigation into the allegations made by a legislative staffer against Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, a Republican from Lewiston.Read More
After a year of grim milestones, Sunday marked a hopeful statistic in America's fight against the coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all American adults have now gotten at least one vaccine dose.Read More
The 500-student Lapwai School District takes an all-bases-covered approach to student well-being, including leveraging partnerships with the Nez Perce tribe and local community to address youth mental health. The small North Idaho district is among only nine rural districts in the state to provide four key behavioral health supports for all of its students, according to an Read More
The Indian Health Service has been lauded for the success of its vaccination campaign. But not every Native American got to be part of that. Tribes that aren't recognized by the U.S. government have received none of the resources directed to Indian Country to help them survive the pandemic.Read More
Next week, President Biden will announce a number that could shape the rest of his presidency: a new goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement marks the country's renewed commitment to the Paris accord, the international climate change agreement that former President Trump withdrew from.Read More
In a converted 107-year-old former bank building in Centralia’s quaint downtown, Praxis Laboratory tested pot from growers across the state. Small samples of marijuana flowers would arrive in baggies. Maybe 4 grams or so from every few square feet of leafy canopy.Read More
Learn how sheep ranchers in the late-nineteenth century in Eastern Oregon were already a part of complex agricultural and industrial systems that provided food, clothing and commodities to markets across the U.S. Read More
Much of the Northwest’s high country is still deep in good snowpack but short on rain this spring. That has dryland wheat farmers and cattle ranchers fretting. Cold, wind and dust are even wreaking havoc with produce farmers in the region.Read More
Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of several tribes.Read More
The Billy Frank Jr. statue would replace one of Oregon Trail pioneer Marcus Whitman. The larger-than-life bronze of Whitman has stood in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall for nearly 70 years.Read More
Days after the demise of a higher education budget, University of Idaho President C. Scott Green is looking for backup from alumni and business leaders.Read More
The amount of fraudulent payments of unemployment benefits distributed in Washington state during the height of the coronavirus pandemic was likely higher than the $647 million identified by the Washington state Employment Security Department, according to a new set of reports released by the state auditor’s office Tuesday.Read More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the blood clots are extremely rare but that it is reviewing the cases. The agency says it expects this pause to last for "a matter of days."Read More
The 100-day countdown to the opening ceremony of the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics begins Wednesday. Yes, the summer games are proceeding amid an ongoing global pandemic. Olympic hopefuls and Pacific Northwest athletes already picked for Team USA invariably said they are eager to go.Read More
The state’s K-12 teacher salaries budget fell Tuesday on a 34-34 tie vote after more than an hour of volatile debate — ranging from anecdotes about good teachers and “bad actors” to accusations that educators are being forced to include critical race theory in their coursework. Stories from teacher-lawmakers on both sides of the issue focused on the content’s presence — or Read More
The Washington Legislature has approved a measure to ban the use of Native American names, symbols and images as school mascots, logos and team names at most public schools in Washington.Read More
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday they are recommending a "pause" in the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine out of an "abundance of caution" while a review of reports of rare, potentially dangerous blood clots is conducted.Read More
Idaho legislators gave a sympathetic ear Monday to an Oregon group that wants to redraw state lines so that conservative eastern and southern Oregon would become part of the expanded state of "Greater Idaho." A separate group formed by Washington state farmers is pursuing the same idea for eastern Washington.Read More
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are opening a two-day mass vaccination event to any resident age 16 and above who resides in the 11 counties that span the tribes’ ceded territory. The offer is open to anyone, not just tribal members. Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday that Whitman, Pierce and Cowlitz counties would be affected. It comes after Inslee changed the criteria last Friday, saying counties had to fail two key metrics in order to revert backward.Read More
The son-in-law of the Washington State Patrol chief resigned as a trooper after investigations into allegations of on-the-job sex and sexual assault. He is now fighting to keep his badge, testing the state's narrow law for decertifying police.Read More
Some infrastructure concerns go far less discussed than others including, notably, the issue of wastewater and sanitation. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the country’s wastewater treatment plants are functioning at an average of “81 percent of their design capacities,” and 15 percent have “reached or exceeded” that capacity. Drinking water service Read More
Peter Lancaster has always had a love for rabbits. But when he first saw a pygmy rabbit – perhaps what would become the most influential animal throughout his life – he didn’t know what it was. That began years of work to try and save the species, now endangered in Washington.Read More
The space agency NASA has chosen a small Tillamook-based aerospace company to design and test robotic balloons for future scientific exploration of Venus. Near Space Corporation is working on the Venus project with some of the same NASA team members currently managing an historic helicopter drone flight on Mars.Read More
This hour-long special of StoryCorps Northwest highlights some of the moving and inspiring stories from friends and neighbors in the Inland Northwest. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday that counties now must fail in two metrics to be moved back a phase in their reopening. The governor says the state won't act unless counties have both a high hospitalization and case rate.Read More
Lowering the amount of carbon that comes out of your tailpipe has become a quest for some Washington lawmakers. Now, new standards that would promote biofuels over gasoline are closer to becoming law than ever before.Read More
The vast majority of votes cast by Amazon's workers in Bessemer, Ala., were against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in a stinging defeat of the union drive. The final tally showed 1,798 votes against unionizing and 738 votes in favor of the union.Read More
The rehearsal of the Skagit Valley Chorale, a community choir made up mostly of retirees and not associated with the church where they practiced, happened two weeks before Gov. Jay Inslee shut down the state. The choir had taken the precautions known at the time, such as distancing themselves and sanitizing. But someone had the virus.Read More
A Crosscut investigation found at least 183 police officers flagged for issues such as dishonesty, bias and excessive force remain in law enforcement.Read More
A recent NPR/Marist poll found that one in four Americans said they would refuse a coronavirus vaccine outright if offered. Another 5% are "undecided" about whether they would get the shot. Although the numbers were highest for Republican men and residents of rural areas, there were still a significant number of people across all ages and demographic groups who claim they Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday signed a bill automatically restoring voting rights to people who have been released from prison after committing felonies, even if they are still on parole — a measure sponsored by a lawmaker who was herself formerly incarcerated.Read More
Legislation making it more difficult to get initiatives or referendums on ballots is heading to the governor, who has hinted of a possible veto. The House voted 51-18 on Wednesday to approve the measure backers said is needed because the current process favors urban voters. It passed the Senate 26-9 last month. Those numbers are enough to overcome a veto.Read More
A boom in American consumers’ online shopping during the pandemic has prompted a boost in imports from Asia. But that left U.S. agriculture products without a ride back. Many ships aren’t waiting to be loaded with agricultural goods at West Coast ports before heading back across the ocean with empty containers. Plus, the Trump administration’s trade war hit apples hard. Read More
What started as a slow trickle of people became a flood of cars over Easter weekend at the FEMA vaccination center in Yakima. And as April 15 approaches (when all adults are eligible for vaccination in Washington), some Seattleites are heading East for a coveted Covid-19 shot.Read More
